I try hard not to use too many “buzz words” on here – its inevitable, really … but, having had a chance to get to two opening of AWOL Fabric exhibition, all I can really say about this is “next fucking level” – argh, there, I said it.

On the private opening night last Thursday, I was rendered speechless. All the hard work and effort that the crew had put in to create something unique had paid off; enormously so. This was a collaborative show that outstrips most other collaborative shows I have seen, and easily ranks in probably the top 10 exhibitions I have seen in my life. I’m not just saying that because I count the AWOL guys as mates (I mean, they’re all just a damn great bunch of people), I’m saying that because it is very rare that I can walk into a show and find it hard to vocalise how I feel about it. I’m saying it because it was, for me, an epiphany and a vision of what can be done with a tight, solid and experienced collaborative team.

The second night, I arrived all ready for another go at it all again – hilariously, there was a booze bus set up right outside the show. It just added to the whole momentum of the night, having that presence right outside the door – you just can’t plan that kind of shit. The venue itself, an old pump house, was gorgeous – how the hell they managed this, who knows, but there was no more fitting venue for their work. High arches reaching up, a piece from each artist framed within. Then downstairs, almost an entirely different show from above, yet without losing the synergy that the main room had already set up the stage for. It was as if upstairs was the first act, downstairs was the second act, and, the final act … well, the final act was the opening itself, and the meanderings of conversation and talk about the images upon the walls – the artists themselves, each of them a frazzled frenzy as they tried to speak to everyone at once – you could see the past few weeks burnt into their eyes, an irascible glow mitigated between joy and exhaustion.

Even now, trying to encapsulate this show in words really just doesn’t do it justice. Was it the 10m mural, created by all of the crew in one brilliant montage of style? Was it the installation downstairs, jagged and edged, and yet feeling as it was merely a natural extension of the room? Was it the collaborative works, that made me feel as if I had been introduced to a whole swath of new, unique artists, “ghost” artists whose only existence in upon a canvas of work created by two or more of the artists? Was it one of my favourite pieces, a small image of a guy laying down with text by Li-Hill, which didn’t grab me immediately … until I looked closer, and saw the beautiful solar panels of a fucking soviet era inspired space station emerging from a etched mist of lines? Fuck yeah.

Was it the fact that every AWOL artist contributed to the show, and the only time I had been able to see how they worked together had been back at the NGV – which, frankly, was a great piece, but nothing next to this?

Slicers impressionistic-abstract letterforms, Adnates soulful eyes and laconic, colourful women, Lucy Lucys patterned and evocative girls, Itchs sublime surrealistic assaults, Li-Hills lines – those fkn lines! and Deams amazing geometric directions I hadn’t seen before. It was all of the above – it was fucking AWOL.
Anyways, I could probably ramble on about this show for a long time – others probably will. So, in lieu of my espousing even more shit in an attempt to annunciate how I felt about it all, and failing dismally, check out the video they’ve just put out, and then check out all the photos we got on the night … massive thanks to Dave Russell for grabbing all of these for us!

[nggallery id=181 display_type=photocrati-nextgen_pro_masonry]